Winter blues in The View from the Terrace

I have been feeling a bit low lately. I suffer with mild seasonal affective disorder and I have been finding it hard to get up in the mornings and get on with things during these endless, damp, cloud filled days. One day last week the clouds cleared and the sun came out. It was still cold but I felt totally different, as if I was emerging from a fog. I spent an hour in the garden tidying and deadheading the pansies. Then I walked down to the bottom of the garden, something I don’t do often nowadays in the winter as the grassy slope can get slippery, but I wanted to see if the snowdrops were out on Friskie’s grave. Frisky was Cat’s dog. She got him when she was 15. He was half Labrador, half …who knows? possibly Doberman from his looks. They were inseparable companions for 10 years. He died from a brain tumor and I will never forget how my highly sensitive, easily upset daughter sat with him calmly, holding herself together until he had gone because she didn’t want him to be frightened. After he died we buried him in the corner at the bottom of the garden and that is now the only place where snowdrops grow even though I have planted them elsewhere.

The news about the Duke of Edinburgh’s car accident continues. Yesterday the lady passenger from the other car gave an interview on This Morning. Buckingham Palace had said they had been in touch with the people in the other car but she claimed no one had contacted her and she was in pain and unsupported. I was feeling sorry for her but then she started criticising her friend who was driving, saying she hadn’t heard from her either, and later she admitted she had received an email from the queen’s lady in waiting but she felt it was stilted and unsympathetic. I am sure she has been through a horrible experience so I won’t judge her.

A lot of people are saying that the Duke should give up his licence because he is 97. I don’t believe people should be forced to stop driving because of age alone. my Uncle Trevor drove until 6 months before he died at the age of 93 and he was a perfectly safe driver. The issue is whether one is capable of driving. I’m not sure about the Duke, he does seem a bit reckless as he was seen driving again 2 days later in his replacement car without a seat belt. Apparently the queen drives without a seat belt too, but she is above the law because she is queen, it’s a really bad example and they are putting themselves in unnecessary danger.

I hope the weather brightens up again soon as I want to do some things in the garden. I haven’t made winter hanging baskets this year. I simply didn’t find the time before it got too cold. I have tried to buy some ready planted ones but there don’t seem to be any around, perhaps it is too late in the season. It will soon be time to think about planting seeds for the summer, roll on spring!